Off-Grid Living in Logan County, Ohio

I've been digging into what off-grid living actually looks like in Logan County, Ohio, and the first thing to understand is that there's no single rulebook here. Logan County itself doesn't have a countywide zoning code. Zoning is handled township by township, across the county's 17 townships, plus separate municipal codes in places like the Village of Russells Point. So the honest answer to "can I put a tiny house or cabin on raw land here" is: it depends entirely on which township you're in. The Logan-Union-Champaign Regional Planning Commission (LUC Planning) keeps links to township zoning resolutions, and I'd start there, then call the specific township's zoning inspector before buying land.

Building permits are a different story: those ARE unified at the county level, through the Logan County Building Authority. Whatever township you're in, if you're building a habitable structure, you'll go through the county for a building permit, and that process explicitly requires a zoning permit (from the township), health department approval on your water/sewage, and a floodplain determination. So the county Building Authority is really the hub that ties the township zoning and health district pieces together.

On septic: the Logan County Health District regulates household sewage treatment systems, and Ohio's state framework (administered locally) requires an operation and maintenance permit that gets renewed periodically depending on system type. Composting toilets aren't spelled out separately on the county's page, so I'd treat them as an alternative sewage treatment system needing health district sign-off, and confirm directly with the Health District before installing one.

Greywater reuse isn't addressed specifically for Logan County in anything I found. The state's baseline framework allows it with a local health board permit, but I couldn't confirm a Logan County-specific policy, so ask the Health District directly.

Rainwater harvesting for potable use (cisterns) falls under Ohio's Private Water Systems Program, administered locally by the Logan County Health District, though I didn't find a Logan-specific cistern page. Private wells are clearly permitted, with the Health District requiring a full application, site plan, registered contractor, and paperwork filed with both the Health District and ODNR.

There's no countywide ordinance I found that forces you to hook up to utilities. But don't read that as "off-grid is a free-for-all": you'll still need to satisfy the Building Authority's zoning, health, and floodplain requirements for any habitable structure, grid-tied or not.

Bottom line: Logan County splits authority between townships (zoning) and the county (building, health, water). Confirm the township rules first, then work with the county Building Authority and Health District on the technical permits.